1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tire vulcanizer for vulcanizing and molding a green tire and a tire vulcanizing equipment equipped with the tire vulcanizer.
2. Description of the Invention
Tire is produced by molding a green tire into a tire shape and then vulcanizing it in a tire vulcanizer. After completion of the molding and vulcanizing, the vulcanized tire is discharged from the tire vulcanizer, followed by air-cooling in a post-cure inflator if necessary, and thereafter the discharged tire is checked for its molded state and becomes a final product.
A conventional tire vulcanizer shown in FIG. 8 has a vulcanizing/molding unit 51 provided with a mold and also has a feed loader 52 and a discharge loader 53 on front and rear sides, respectively, of the vulcanizing/molding unit 51. A green tire 57 on a front-side table 54 is fed to the vulcanizing/molding unit 51, while by means of the discharge loader 53 a vulcanized tire 58 is taken out from the vulcanizing/molding unit 51 and is discharged to a transfer mechanism 55 located on the rear side. A plurality of such tire vulcanizers are arranged side by side so that their front and rear sides are located on the same sides respectively to form a vulcanizing line 56. A front side of the vulcanizing line 56 is used as a stay area of the green tire 57, while a rear side of the vulcanizing line 56 is used as a conveyance area for conveyance of the vulcanized tire 58 to an inspection process. Thus, the feed of green tire and the discharge of vulcanized tire are both carried out in one direction from the front to the rear side.
However, in the construction wherein the stay area and the conveyance area are established respectively before and behind the vulcanizing line 56, when the replacement of mold is to be performed for each tire vulcanizer 50 in the vulcanizing line 56, it is required, before starting a mold replacing work, to remove devices mounted on the front side (stay area side) and the rear side (conveyance area side) of the vulcanizing/molding unit 51 which is provided with the mold, to ensure a replacement work area. Besides, after the mold replacing work, a work for restoring the devices to their original states is needed.
Such an operation for ensuring the mold replacement work area and the restoring operation both performed heretofore at every mold replacement give rise to the problem that the productivity is deteriorated. This problem is marked particularly when it is necessary to frequently replace automobile tires of various types and different specifications such as different tire widths and groove shapes.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tire vulcanizer capable of completing the replacement of mold in a short time and thereby attaining the improvement of productivity, as well as a tire vulcanizing equipment equipped with the said tire vulcanizer.
The tire vulcanizer according to the present invention comprises a vulcanizing/molding unit provided with a mold removably and adapted to vulcanize and mold a green tire in the mold to afford a vulcanized tire, a feed system for feeding a green tire to the vulcanizing/molding unit, and a discharge system for discharging the vulcanized tire from the vulcanizing/molding unit, the feed system and the discharge system being disposed on either a front side or a rear side of the tire vulcanizer.
In this construction, since the feed system and the discharge system are disposed on one side of tire vulcanizer, the other side of the tire vulcanizer can be ensured as a mold replacement work area. Consequently, unlike the prior art, it is no longer required to perform operations for removing one of the feed system and the discharge system to ensure a work area and restoring the removed system to its original state after the end of the mold replacement work, thus permitting the replacement of mold to be completed in a short time. As a result, it is possible to attain the improvement of productivity.
Preferably, a support frame for supporting the vulcanizing/molding unit is provided.
Preferably, the feed system and the conveyance system are arranged vertically in two stages or in parallel with each other when seen in the horizontal direction and at positions not overlapping each other in the transverse direction when seen from above.
Thus, since the feed system and the discharge system are in a completely separated state in both vertical and transverse directions, when the tire vulcanizer is arranged a plural number in parallel or opposed relation, the tire vulcanizers can be easily handled in a unificative manner without arranging them each individually for the feed and discharge systems.
Preferably, the feed system comprises a tire carrying table adapted to carry a green tire which has been fed to a feed start position up to an intermediate feed position while allowing the green tire to rest thereon and a feed loader adapted to feed the green tire which has been carried to the intermediate feed position up to the vulcanizing/molding unit while holding the green tire. The discharge system comprises a discharge loader adapted to discharge the vulcanized tire from the vulcanizing/molding unit up to an intermediate discharge position while holding the tire and a delivery mechanism adapted to deliver the vulcanized tire which has been discharged to the intermediate discharge position up to a post-process conveying position.
In this case, the feed and discharge systems can be made simpler in construction.
The tire vulcanizing equipment according to the present invention comprises a plurality of any of the above tire vulcanizers and is provided with a vulcanizing line constituted by arranging the tire vulcanizers in parallel so that one sides thereof lie on the same side.
In this case, a mold replacement work area can be ensured along the other side of the vulcanizing line, so even when molds are to be replaced for a large number of tire vulcanizers in the vulcanizing line, it is possible to effect the mold replacing work in a continuous manner. Consequently, not only the mold replacement for each tire vulcanizer can be completed in a short time, but also the mold replacement for all the vulcanizers included in the vulcanizing line can be completed in a short time, so that it is possible to further improve the productivity.
The tire vulcanizing equipment according to the present invention comprises tire vulcanizers of any of those described above, a green tire conveying line comprising a green tire rail and a green tire conveying device, the green tire rail being disposed so as to vertically overlap the feed systems of the tire vulcanizers, the green tire conveying device being capable of traveling on the green tire rail and adapted to feed the green tire to each of the feed systems from above, and a rail support member mounted to the support frame of each tire vulcanizer to support the green tire rail.
Also in this case it becomes possible to complete the mold replacement work in a short time and hence possible to improve the productivity.